"If I had to guess I think things could get a little dicey tomorrow (Friday) evening with the flight schedule. A lot is being cancelled for tomorrow. We just heard the schools for Oahu have been cancelled. The schools for the Big Island have been cancelled already for a couple of days, so it sounds like the more direct impact will be to the Big Island," Cooper said.

Cooper says store shelves are bare as residents stock up for the incoming storms. Growing up in Brookings and graduating from SDSU Cooper says the preparations for the hurricane seem familiar.

"It kind of reminds me a lot of winter storms in South Dakota where it’s very unpredictable. It seems like no one really knows what's really going to happen, so I think as we actually get into it we'll start to see if it is as big an impact as it's supposed to be," Cooper said.

And she's bracing for a bumpy night as she rides out the storm in her beach-side hotel.

"I'm staying in a hotel right on Waikiki Beach across the road from the beach so expecting some surging. Expecting some waves," Cooper said.

Cooper says this storm has caught the attention of many on the islands because unlike other areas of the country that get hit by hurricanes there is no real way to evacuate or escape from the path of the storm.